Textile spinning machines

ABSTRACT

A method of open end spinning textile yarns from fibers having a mean staple length of 2 inches or more using a spinning rotor, in which discrete fibers are fed to the interior fiber collecting surface of the spinning rotor through a feed passage having a length greater than the mean staple length of the fibers.

I United States Paten 1 1 [111 3,724,194-

Greenwood et al. 1 Apr. 3, 1973 541 TEXTILE SPINNING MACHINES 3,494,118 2/1970 Bobkowicz et al. ..57/58.95 x [75] Inventors: Robert Greenwood, Whalley, -near gi g z zz 'gi Blackburn; Mwhae' Shepherd 3,324,642 6/1967 Meimberg et a1. ..57/58.95 nkley bmh Englami 3,355,869 12 1967 Vorisek ..s7 5s.9s 3 Assigneez T.M'M (Research) it Lam 3,511,044 5/1970 Stary ..57/58.95 X cashire England 3,335,558 8/1967 Doudlebsky e181 ..57/5895 3,381,463 5/1968 Fa t et al. ..57/58.95 [22] Filed: July 8, 1970 Y FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 21 Appl. No.2 53,247

969,046 9/1964 Great Britain ..57/58.95

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Primary Examiner-Donald E. Watkins July 8, 1969 Great Britain ..34,331/69 A1wmeyWatS0n,C0le.Grindle and Watson [52] US. Cl ..57/156, 57/5895 [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl. ..D0lh 1/12 A method of o pen end spinning textile yarns trom [58] Fleld of Search ..57/58.895578/.l9556, fibers having a mean Staple length of 2 inches or more using a spinning rotor, in which discrete fibers are fed to the interior fiber collecting surface of the spinning L References Cited rotor through a feed passage having a length greater UNITED STATES PATENTS than the mean staple length of the fibers.

3,455,097 7/ 1969 Rajnoha et al. ..57/58.95 2 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENT was I SHEET 5 OF 5 a? A 722% 4/ /flz 44262;

TEXTILE SPINNING MACHINES The present invention relates to a method of openend textile spinning of the kind in which fibers are taken from a supply by fiber feed means and delivered as discrete fibers to an interior fiber collecting surface of a spinning rotor. The fibers are removed from the fiber collecting surface by twisting them into an end of yarn which is continuously withdrawn from therotor and taken up on a wind-up device.

Difficulty has been experienced in producing satisfactory yarns from fibers having a mean staple length of 2 inches or more and it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of open-end spinning yarns from such fibers and an improved open-end spinning machine for this purpose.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of open-end spinning of textile yarns from fibers having a mean staple length of 2 inches or more, including the step of delivering from fiber feed means discrete fibers to the interior fiber collecting surface of a spinning rotor through a fiber feed passage the length of which is greater than the mean staple length of the fibers.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an open-end textile spinning machine comprising a spinning rotor arranged for rotation and having an interior fiber collecting surface, fiber feed means for producing discrete fibers for feeding to the interior fiber collecting surface of the rotor, and a fiber feed passage having a length of 2 inches or more through which the discrete fibers are fed from the fiber feed means to the interior fiber collecting surface of the rotor.

Preferably, the fiber feed means includes an opening roller and the fiber passage extends from the periphery of the opening roller to the vicinity of the fiber collecting surface of the rotor.

One embodiment of the invention, together with a modification thereof, will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation partly in section of an open-end textile spinning machine according to a first embodiment of the invention, with some parts removed for clarity,

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the left-hand side of the machine shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a side elevation partly in section of the right-hand side of the machine shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is a section taken on the line IV-IV in FIG. 1

of part of the machine shown in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 5 is a scrap view of a part of the machine shown in FIG. 4, in an alternative position thereof,

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of an alternative form of spinning rotor representing the modification, and

FIG. 7 is a view of the rotor of FIG. 6 looking in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 6.

In the drawings, there is illustrated an open-end spinning machine which is particularly suitable for processing long staple fibers. The machine comprises, as best seen in FIG. 3, a spinning rotor 11 which is fixedly mounted on one end of a horizontal output shaft 12 of an electric motor 13 and which is fed with fibers through a fiber inlet duct 14 formed as an extension of a cover plate 15 which fits over the open end of a rotor housing 16 and which is formed with a cylindrical enlargement 17 which enters into the forwardly facing open end of the rotor 11. The cover plate 15 is provided with a central yarn-delivery duct 18 and the arrangement is such that fibers delivered through the fiber inlet duct 14 pass to an interior fiber collecting surface 19 of the rotor 11 from which they are twisted into the tail end of a yarn 20 which is withdrawn continuously by delivery rollers 21 and 22, from which the yarn passes to a package forming device (not shown). Fibers are drawn through the fiber inlet duct 14 and into the rotor 11 in a well known manner by the action of suction applied to the interior of the rotor housing 16 through suction duct 23.

Fibers are supplied to the fiber inlet duct 14 by fiber feed means to which a sliver or roving of suitable fibers is continuously fed through a feed trumpet 24. A feed roller 25 which rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow A and which is provided with teeth or spikes 26, picks up fibers from the sliver and carries them round to an opening roller 27 rotating in the direction indicated by the arrow B. The opening roller 27 is provided with pinned bars 28 which pick up the fibers carried round by the feed roller 25 and forward them to a fiber delivery duct 29 formed in an opening roller housing 30 and registering with the fiber inlet duct 14.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the opening roller 27 is drivably mounted on an output shaft 39 of an electric motor 40 and is disposed out of line with the forwardly facing open end of the spinning rotor and at the side thereof. The dispositions of the various parts of the machine are such that the fibers fed in sliver or roving form pass around the feed roller 25 and opening roller 27 in curved paths in a single plane and are taken from the periphery of the opening roller 27 into a straight passage comprising ducts l4 and 29, still lying in the same plane as that of the fiber path around the rollers. The straight passage formed by the ducts l4 and 29 has a length of 2 inches or more and is arranged to be greater in length than the mean staple length of the fibers processed on the machine.

The apparatus disclosed has been found particularly suitable for producing yarns from fibers having a mean suitable length in the range of 2% inches 5 inches. A path of adequate length for feeding the discrete fibers to the fiber collecting surface is thereby obtained with improved spinning results. Furthermore, the passage is inclined at an angle 16 to the plane at right angles to the rotary axis to the rotor 11 so that withdrawal of yarn from the front of the spinning device is not obstructed by the fiber inlet duct and threading of yarn is made a relatively easy task.

The cover plate 15 closing the open end of the rotor 11 is held in the closed position as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 by a spring clip 31 and a rotary catch 32 operated by a handle 33, the arrangement being such that when the handle 33 is turned from the position shown in FIG. 4 through an angle of to that shown in FIG. 5 the catch 32 turns to a position in which a flat 34 thereon releases it from engagement by a projection 35 fixed on the rotor housing 16. In this position of the catch 32, the cover plate 15 can be withdrawn, together with the catch 32 and handle 33, forwardly of the machine if at the same time the spring 31 is pulled back to release the other side of the cover plate. Rod 49 carries a cross bar 50 which engages in a slot formed in the catch 32. The

other end of the rod 49 has fixedly secured thereto a cam 36 which in the position shown in FIG. 1 holds apart spring loaded arms 37 and 38 of a brake device for braking the motor shaft 12 carrying the rotor 11, and the arrangement is such that the handle 33 when turned to release the cover plate '15 turns the cam 36 through an angle of 90 to allow the spring loaded arms 37 and 38 to move together and bring friction pads thereon to bear against a brake drum 89. It will be seen that by the simple operation of turning the handle 33 the spinning rotor 11 is brought to rest and by additionally holding back the spring clip 31 the cover plate may be moved forwardly without obstacle and the interior of the spinning rotor inspected.

Access to the periphery of the opening roller 27 for inspection and cleaning can be gained by swinging open a front cover plate 41 by means of a handle 42. The front cover plate 41 is fixedly mounted on a rotary shaft 51 and when displaced to the open position causes the angular turning of a cam 43 on the other end of shaft 51 from the position shown in FIG. 2 in which it holds apart a pair of spring loaded brake arms 44 and 45 to a position in which the brake arms come together and cause brake pads 46 and 47 thereon to bear against a brake drum 48 carried on the other end of the motor output shaft 39and bring the opening roller'27 to rest.

The fiber collecting surface may be provided with needles to assist in retaining the fibers until they are picked 'up by a rotating end of yarn to be twisted therein in the manner well known in open-end spinning machines, this optional modification being illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 The rotor 11a shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 has a series of needles 520 which project inwardly from the fiber collecting surface 19a so that the tip of each needle leads the root when the rotor 11a rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 7.

On end breakage the feed roller is stopped and any fibers remaining in the rotor are sucked away through the suction duct 23. Any fibers trapped between the rotor 11 and the cover plate 15 can be dislodged and sucked away simply by removing or partially removing the cover plate 15.

We claim:

1. A method of open-end spinning of textile yarns from fibers having a mean staple length of 2 inches or more, including the step of delivering from fiber feed means discrete fibers to the interior fiber collecting surface of a spinning rotor through a fiber feed passage the length of which is greater than the mean staple length of the fibers.

2. A method according to claim 1, including the step of feeding to said fiber feed means a sliver or roving of fibers having a mean staple length of 2 inches or more and opening the fibers of said sliver or roving in said fiber feed means for delivery as discrete fibers. 

1. A method of open-end spinning of textile yarns from fibers having a mean staple length of 2 inches or more, including the step of delivering from fiber feed means discrete fibers to the interior fiber collecting surface of a spinning rotor through a fiber feed passage the length of which is greater than the mean staple length of the fibers.
 2. A method according to claim 1, including the step of feeding to said fiber feed means a sliver or roving of fibers having a mean staple length of 2 inches or more and opening the fibers of said sliver or roving in said fiber feed means for delivery as discrete fibers. 